A new walkthrough video shows chimps Rosie and Jambo enjoying their new home - a £3.5 million new home at Twycross Zoo.

The Leicestershire attraction has now opened the doors to its Chimpanzee Eden project to provide a new, more natural habitat for its much-loved and iconic apes.

The new facility is designed to pose the same kind of challenges wild chimps face in their daily lives and far more suited to their care needs.

The lush, tropical greenery gives visitors an immersive jungle experience as they watch the chimpanzees make their way through the 1,160sqm indoor and outdoor habitat complete with huge outdoor climbing frames.

Guests can discover hidden spots where they can get a look at the chimps from closer than ever before.

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Bosses said that the three-storey building will provide “outstanding” facilities for both animal welfare, research, education and visitors, as part of Twycross’s ambitious £55 million masterplan to become a national conservation organisation and world-class visitor attraction.

Sharon Redrobe, chief executive at Twycross Zoo, said: “Twycross Zoo has housed chimpanzees since our inception in 1963. Back then, many of the chimpanzees were socially naïve, having been hand-reared and maintained in very small social units.

“Our dedicated team has since spent several years ‘re-wilding’ the chimps into larger social groups through award-winning introduction programmes, where the chimps had to learn how to interact with more individuals in a more complex social context.

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“It has always been a long-term aim for us to house all our chimps in one place, as we want our animals to be living and behaving as closely to how they would in the wild. We place a strong emphasis on creating naturalistic habitats for our animals to live in and Chimpanzee Eden has been designed with this in mind; providing a larger, more complex space for our chimps to interact together.”

Twycross Zoo collaborated with the University of Birmingham to develop an Enclosure Design Tool, with a science-based design for chimpanzees, using elements which mimic the physical and mental challenges they face in their natural environment.

Following its successful deployment at the Leicestershire-based zoo, the tool has since been launched nationally through The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, with future aims to introduce it throughout European Zoos via The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

The university also helped design cognition pods in Chimpanzee Eden, an area where the chimps can participate in puzzles, allowing visitors and scientists to learn about their cognitive abilities.

Sharon Redrobe said: “As a research-led charity, we hope to make a real difference to the quality of life for our chimpanzees by incorporating several recommended components into Chimpanzee Eden.

“The new habitat will allow the chimps to climb really high and move on dynamic structures that behave flexibly, similar to the branches and vines in forest canopies in their natural environment.

“This is vital for our conservation efforts and education programmes since chimpanzees move differently in static and dynamic environments and ensuring that they remain strong and quick-witted is a necessity for animal welfare.

“At the heart of our ambitious development plans lies a passionate commitment to the fundamental importance of environmental education and practical wildlife conservation, which is shared by the whole team at Twycross Zoo.”